Tis the season…

…for visitation to the busier parts of the Plateau. Roads and visitor centers are closed, parking lots empty, days getting longer…

I had plans of blazing through the first miles with my trusty trailhead shuttle mt bike but sandy canyon bottoms and Elephant Hill aren’t exactly blazing terrain so I ditched the bike and started walking.

Nice views down Red Lake…

Views down towards Cataract…

…and up Red Lake….

Water was trickier than expected for a lot of the trip, with the expected being water everywhere and some remaining snow (based on how things look here at home). I hadn’t carried any water up from the river and had to spend some time looking, but knowing where to look is usually successful.

In the morning it was down into Ernie’s Country…

Taking advantage of the recent warm spell…

Some ramblin in the Fins before making my way out…

…and down into the Maze…

Plenty of water in the canyon bottoms…

I never tire of Cottonwoods.

Climbing out again…

Back down to the river…

I hadn’t been down Red Lake before this trip and it’s pretty excellent.

3 thoughts on “Tis the season…”

Great stuff here. Thanks for the great TR – the pict of the gnarled cottonwoods may be my favorite. Its kind of scary to see such low flows at Spanish Bottom…..my hopes for a winter rally to open up a may/june Escalante packraft are not turning out.